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I'm going to friggen go nuts if he doesn't start nursing LESS?

My son is 16 months and lately ALL he wants to do is nurse. Last night he nursed for 3 hours straight. Finally I told him he had to take a break because I was in so much pain. He flipped out, got out of my bed, threw himself on the floor, and started throwing a HUGE fit for like 20 minutes.

I TRIED comforting him in every other way. I gave him a cup of milk, tried feeding him (in the middle of the night I might add) in case he was hungry, rocked him, you name it...I tried it.

I simply can NOT do this whole nursing for hours at a time. My nipples are going to friggen fall off!

He was going to sleep without nursing and sleeping through the night. Now all of the sudden he doesn't even want to play...just wants to nurse.

What can I do? I don't want to stop nursing him...I just want him to slow down a bit. PLEASE HELP...I'm DESPERATE!

It sounds like maybe it's something more going on with him. My son has gone through stages like this and yes, your nipples hurt like heck and it makes you feel kindof .. well .. hostile emotionally (not toward your baby, just, in general).

This is pretty normal. Often toddlers go through phases where they nurse a lot.. sometimes for hours.. Separation anxiety, milestones, when they get their molars it is HORRIFICALLY painful (maybe try some sort of pain reliever just incase?) .. They also will nurse like that if they're getting sick or are feeling a bit ill (like a headache or something) or they are feeling a bit insecure.

They also may do that if they are over-tired.. which means they're SO tired that they can't sleep because their nervous system is causing them pain.

Any of the issues listed, usually either become apparent (a tooth pops through, they become ill) or get better soon.

Fallon_Long, and OP, I'm curious, do you work? Sometimes young tots that are away from their moms all day will nurse a lot more/seem to only want to nurse when with their moms.. to make up for lost time.

If you're not working, Fallon, are a lot of teeth coming through? Did you introduce any new foods recently (like milk?) or change something in the environment or move or something?

I mean, my son likes to nurse.. He's 20 months.. He loves to nurse honestly. He nurses a lot still, probably at least every hour or two, a lot of it is drive-by nursing sessions, like "you still there, mom?" then goes back to whatever/brings me a book. But I really don't mind and he doesn't wake up at night at all at this point 99% of the time. Is that what you mean by "heavily nursing" ? Or do you mean like your LO nurses for 40 minutes every hour and wakes up every 2? How do you define heavily nursing? Am really just curious :)